Midland volleyball team prepares for competitive regional

Published 7:00 pm, Sunday, November 9, 2008

Midland High joins a trio of Flint-area teams in this week's Class A regional after winning its first Class A volleyball district title in eight years.

The Chemics (38-9-2) face Grand Blanc (30-18-4) in a regional semifinal at approximately 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Flint Kearsley High School. Two-time defending regional champion Flushing (48-9) plays Lapeer West (22-19-3) in the first semifinal at 5 p.m.

Midland faced Grand Blanc just over a week ago in a tournament at Grand Blanc and beat the Bobcats 25-17, 25-16. Chemics' coach Tim Zerull hopes his team can continue its great serving in order to keep the Bobcats from running their offense.

"We're going to have to try and keep the plan as simple as possible and make it so they're not able to get in their offense," he said. "They do run their middle (hitters) quite effectively if they can pass serve.

"Our serve has been a big key to the success of our team. It sounds simplistic, but that's what it is - finding a crack in their passing game."

If the Chemics beat Grand Blanc, they would likely play Flushing in the final, which is at 6 p.m. Thursday at Kearsley. Midland lost to the Raiders 25-22, 25-22 at the New Lothrop Quad tournament on Oct. 18.

"It was a pretty even match," Zerull said. "We just made a few mistakes down the stretch of each game."

Flushing features 6-foot-3 junior outside hitter Whitney Heeres and senior setter Rachel Hamblin, who Zerull said is planning to play at Northwood next year.

"If it gets to that (a Midland vs. Flushing final), it'll be a good match," Zerull said.

In addition to great serving from Shelley Lee and others, Zerull said the Chemics' success in the district tournament also stemmed from a good rhythm between setter Rachel Sugnet and hitter Lindsey Dulude, a Miss Volleyball finalist.

"I think Rachel has a good sense about when she needs to get the ball to Lindsey, and I think she's getting very good at that at this point in the season," Zerull said. "We wanted to try and take advantage of that as much as we can when Lindsey's in the front row."

The winner of the regional advances to next Tuesday's quarterfinal at Bay City Central, and the winner of that match goes to Battle Creek's Kellogg Arena, where the Class A semifinals will be held Nov. 21 and the final Nov. 22.